Who is AICC in-charge of Uttar Pradesh? Congress leaders clueless over Priyanka's resignation

New Delhi: Many Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh came in for a shock on Monday when they came to know that general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had resigned from the post of the in-charge of the state a year ago.

She herself informed the party colleagues at a review meeting of Uttar Pradesh in Delhi on Monday when some of them approached her regarding certain organisational issues in the country's politically and electorally important state.

She had apparently put in her papers after the party's dismal performance in the 2022 state assembly elections in which the Congress managed to bag just two of the 403 seats it contested. That was the worst-ever performance of the grand old party in the country's most populated state that holds the key to the power at the Centre. Uttar Pradesh, with about 20 crore population, sends the highest 80 of the total 543 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha.

However, the official website of the Congress continues to show her as the party's in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress has been functioning without an All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Uttar Pradesh for over a year now.

The Congress divided the Uttar Pradesh organisational unit into two zones -- East and West -- in January 2019 for better management ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Priyanka Gandhi was then appointed a general secretary and given the charge of East UP while Jyotiraditya Scindia (now a Bharatiya Janata Party member and a Union Minister) was assigned the responsibilities of West UP.

The grand old party barely won one seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi retaining her Rae Bareli constituency. However, the party suffered a massive setback after the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani from the family pocket borough of Amethi by over 50,000 votes. However, he won from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala.

It is not clear yet if Rahul Gandhi will again contest from Amethi or leave the seat for Priyanka Gandhi to fight from Wayanad once again. There is also suspense over Sonia Gandhi contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli due to her health issues.

Apart from Priyanka Gandhi, 39 leaders attended the December 18 review meeting at the party headquarters in Delhi. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi were present.

At the meeting, Imran Masood, who quit the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) recently to join the Congress, apologised for ditching the party.

When Rahul Gandhi asked him if he wouldn't jump ship again, Masood replied that he would now leave the Congress only when he goes to the grave. At this point, Rahul Gandhi reminded Masood: "You remember when you were joining BSP, I had told you that you are going to the graveyard only." Masood is an influential Muslim leader from the Saharanpur belt.